R.S. Baker

A question that phonograph collectors and historians often get asked is, “what was the most popular song to be recorded in the 1890s?” This question

In 1904, the famous composer Victor Herbert sued the Universal talking machine company (better known as Zon-O-Phone) for illegal use of his name. The folks

These days we often take performers who sing and play piano for granted, but in the acoustic phonograph world things were a little different. Long

Last month’s piece in this column was on Charlie Carson and his partner in crime Russell Hunting. This month will be a continuation of Carson’s

In 1896, two phonograph engineers were arrested for the first crime not patent related within the recording business. The more famous of the two, Russell

In the 19th century, novelties and curiosities were all the rage. We have all heard of the circus performers, snake oil salesmen, sideshow freaks—but there

In 1903, two of the major disc record companies ventured into unexplored territory: long playing records. The Victor talking machine company and Columbia phonograph company

In the 19th century, the bass drum in military bands was essential. The use of bass drums continued into the earliest days of recording, but

Justin Ring had a lot of love to give in his long life, as he cared for so many close friends and family. Later in

For many decades, Justin Ring has been an elusive character in the world of early recording and ragtime. Researcher Jim Walsh spoke of him only

Around the first half of 1905, Justin Ring and Fred Hager split up, and they spent nearly a decade apart from each other. With such

In the 1890s and 1900s, military bands were all the rage. From Gilmore’s band to your village community band, they were loved by everyone. One

In the music world, it is easy to overrate the popularity of songs and performers. This is not a new concept, and in terms of

When researching, oftentimes what we don’t know about someone can be more interesting than what we do know. In this situation, it can allow our

This month’s article in this column will step away from the usual type of research done here; this month we will explore a bit of

For researchers, scouring newspaper archives is an essential, yet at times tedious, process. Hours spent reading through century-old papers may yield only a small nugget

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Mamie Smith’s first records. In February of 1920, Mamie Smith made history as the first black woman to

Record collectors may be familiar with the name Frank Banta—a name usually associated with hot novelty and jazz piano of the 1920s, and rightfully so.

In the field of collecting acoustic era recordings, many scholars carry on their research and listening with the idea that items like diaries and scrapbooks

The recent release of Ken Burns’ multi-part documentary Country Music has sparked much conversation in the music history community. Just a few months before this

Charles Prince is a domineering character in the world of record collecting. If you see a pile of early records, the chances are pretty good

In this column, I often speak of the studio pianists that were the driving force on thousands of records made from 1889 to 1925. Perhaps

In 1895, a twenty year old Fred W. Hager organized his military orchestra of 26 musicians. At that time, Hager was the youngest professional bandleader

In 1893, twenty two year old Arthur Pryor performed his first trombone solo with Sousa’s Band. The time and place couldn’t have been better. The